Introduction

Background of Shinto

"Shinto gods" are called kami. They are sacred spirits which take the form of things and concepts important to life, such as wind, rain, mountains, trees, rivers and fertility. Humans become kami after they die and are revered by their families as ancestral kami.

In contrast to many monotheist religions, there are no absolutes in Shinto. There is no absolute right and wrong, and nobody is perfect. Shinto can relate to post-modernism, there's no specific rule or guide to follow, and there are no absolute answers to our questions. Shinto is an optimistic faith, as humans are thought to be fundamentally good, and evil is believed to be caused by evil spirits. Consequently, the purpose of most Shinto rituals is to keep away evil spirits by purification, prayers and offerings to the kami.


One of the biggest differences between Shinto and other religions is that Shinto encourages people to learn and take the positiveness from other religions. Back when Buddhism was first introduced into Japan, there was a religious fight between the two beliefs, however, they eventually integrated into one and developed a new model to fit the people, fit the time period, and fits with the culture. Because of this spirit, the culture of Japan not only has the wisdom from Japanese ancients, but also the intelligent from eastern and western cultures and that is one of the reasons why Japan, a little country on an island, can be so shine to the world. Shinto's characteristics are a lot like post-modernism in this way, where it's ideologies are developed from the effects of the culture around it and it is altered by the ever changing world.

What is Japanese Device Art?

The term "Device Art" was coined by Machiko Kusahara who is a researcher in media art and theory. Device Art is a concept that pushes the boundaries of media art and inherits the legacy of the experiments artists have been conducting with media technologies. In terms of design, device art exists less for the user's needs for function or commercial value as it does for the producer's desire to communicate a message. The background of Japanese Device Art started in the early 20th century with art movements such as Dada and surrealism. More recently, interactive art has redefined forms of art and the role of artists. When we call device art is a form of media art that integrates art and technology as well as design, entertainment, and popular culture.
The Bitman project by Maywa Denki represents the quintessential Device Art object.

Japanese Device Artist: Sachiko Kodama

Sachiko Kodama

Sachiko Kodama is a Japanese artist who is also a physicist. Sachiko began work on a ferrofluid art project that she named "Protrude, Flow". The dynamic movement of liquids is the theme of this project.

“I wanted to convey and portray dynamic energy; flowing, metamorphosing
texture; and shapelessness...I wanted to ask ‘What is life?’” - Sachiko Kodama

Sachiko has taken this idea of liquid architecture more literally with these stunning sculpture made from Ferrofluid, which changes its state by the introduction of electro-magnetic waves into the fluid turning it solid.

Japanese Device Artist: Toshio Iwai

Toshio Iwai

Toshio Iwai is a japanese interactive media and installation artist who has created a number of commercial video games. He began by producing installation art that combines pre-cinema animation. His work is sincere, and all consists of equal doses of seriousness and play, pathos and humor, intricacy and simplicity.

Tenori-On

The Tenori-on is a digital musical / visual instrument by Toshio Iwai, and consists of a 16 x 16 matrix of LED switches that allows everyone to play music. The presentation of media art and some forms of visual art is often reliant on the use of audio, visual or some form of electronics to display the content. With device art, this hardware is the content. The technology is celebrated, interfaces of many forms that permit interaction, joy and response. Above all they serve to widen the prospective audience.

Japanese Device Artist: Maywa Denki

Maywa Denki

Maywa Denki is an art unit formed by Japanese brothers Masamuchi and Nobumichi Tosa, and named after a company their father ran in the seventies.

The toys of Maywa Denki has characteristics of mechanic and cuteness. Maywa Denki sells “products” and exhibitions or live performances are referred to as “product demonstrations”.

Its unique style is indicated by a term he uses: for example, each piece of Maywa Denki's work is called "a product" and a live performance or exhibition is held as "a product demonstration." The products produced so far include "NAKI Series," fish-motif nonsense machines, "Tsukuba Series," original musical instruments, and "Edelweiss," flower-motif objet d'art. Although Maywa Denki is known and appreciated as an artist, its promotion strategies are full of variety: exhibition, live stages, performances, producing music, videos, writing, merchandising toys, stationery, and electric devices.



Knockman Family , Cha Cha

Knockman Family

Idea #1: Muyu and Cellphone

Background of Muyu


Muyu is a instrument that is used for the Buddhist minority during a chant. It is also known as "Drum Fish", "Fish Plate", or "Drum Muyu". It is designed as a round fish shape with empty space in the center and functions as a metronome. The space enables the Muyu creates certain drum sound when knocking with a wooden stick. It is inspired by fish because the ancients thought fishes never close their eyes which symbolize as self-cultivation forgotten body, improving unremitting encouragement. It is symbolized as focus, spirit, and respect and often being seen hanging on a door, in front of a chant class, and during a funeral.

On the one hand, it allows the people to chant the heart against the voice of Muyu, to avoid falling into the hands of their lethargy and paranoia. On the other hand, the law also knocks on Muyu's rhythm. It recites the scriptures with rich sense of rhythm, and maintain offensive. The agreement does not slow the pace, just as spiritual heart of this study is continuously dense to hold on in the track line to improve the long-term heart.

Our Design Idea:

When we came up with this idea, we thought of how we can take two things that are completely different and make a design out of those two ideas. We thought of how we can use an everyday object, such as the cellphone as a metaphor for the wooden block. The cellphone ring tone in some ways is similar to the sound produced by the wooden fish, a repeated knocking rhythm. Instead of having a usual ringtone, we thought that it would be interesting if a cellphone can act as a wooden fish as well as a regular cellphone as well. The cellphone can be placed on a cushion and an accompany wooden stick will be used to hit the surface of the cellphone.

Idea #2: Buddha and Lightbulb

Background of Shinto

"Shinto gods" are called kami. They are sacred spirits which take the form of things and concepts important to life, such as wind, rain, mountains, trees, rivers and fertility. Humans become kami after they die and are revered by their families as ancestral kami.

In contrast to many monotheist religions, there are no absolutes in Shinto. There is no absolute right and wrong, and nobody is perfect. Shinto can relate to post-modernism, there's no specific rule or guide to follow, and there are no absolute answers to our questions. Shinto is an optimistic faith, as humans are thought to be fundamentally good, and evil is believed to be caused by evil spirits. Consequently, the purpose of most Shinto rituals is to keep away evil spirits by purification, prayers and offerings to the kami.


One of the biggest differences between Shinto and other religions is that Shinto encourages people to learn and take the positiveness from other religions. Back when Buddhism was first introduced into Japan, there was a religious fight between the two beliefs, however, they eventually integrated into one and developed a new model to fit the people, fit the time period, and fits with the culture. Because of this spirit, the culture of Japan not only has the wisdom from Japanese ancients, but also the intelligent from eastern and western cultures and that is one of the reasons why Japan, a little country on an island, can be so shine to the world. Shinto's characteristics are a lot like post-modernism in this way, where it's ideologies are developed from the effects of the culture around it and it is altered by the ever changing world.

Background of the Lotus


The lotus in Buddhism expresses as a process from chaos to pure. The idea came from the living environment of lotus; growing in the sludge and mud, then bloom on the surface of the water. The lotus signifies that even the dirtiest water can not cling on the lotus and therefore the lotus is pure in the soul. Lotus lives in cool water but opens in the hot summer; hot represents annoyance, the troubles, and the cool water bringing the realm of cool, this is characterized by the virtues of Lotus. Therefore, the analogy to be free from trouble and was born in the Pure Land Buddhist people are Lotus metaplasia. The clean Lotus means foundational and intelligence.


Design Idea: Buddha, Lotus, and a Lightbulb



Our idea is to create a light bulb using a Buddha and a lotus. The Buddha would be inside the light bulb, taking the shape of the stem of the light bulb. The light bulb would then sit on top of a lotus which pedals are big enough to hide the light bulb inside of it. When the light bulb is off, the lotus flower is closed and takes the shape of a flower bulb. Once the light bulb is on, the lotus flower opens up and bright light shines out from the Buddha. This is the metaphor for the idea behind how the lotus emerges from the dark under water and opens up in the bright light in the summer and symbolizes the fact that pureness can be formed even in the roots of the dirtiest and darkest areas and that enlightenment can block out all darkness and evil.

Idea #3: Singing Bowl and Wrist Watch

Singing Bowl

Singing Bowl,also known as the "Himalaya bowl", is composed of seven metal with Gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, mercury. Meteorites are the Himalayas rocks refined by hand to build from. Buddhist believes the singing bowls' sound, issued by the overtone, can help the body relax and at the same time to balance, harmonize the body's seven Chakra, which are the body's center of activity that receives, assimilates, and expresses life force energy. Singing bowls have been commonly used as a therapeutic, sound therapy, and the chakra balancing of a medium or a tool that is positive.

Singing bowl creates the low audio by high long-wavelength which helps the core of body, and the intrinsic resonance frequency effects the physiological phenomenon of acid, Ma, itching, pain. It varies from person to person, even people with high sensitivity, singing bowls can feel the interaction with the physical feedback and experience from the body to convey the message out.

Idea: Singing Bowl Wrist Watch

The world has evolved to a very technology advanced society where a lot of limitations has been erased and we are much more capable of doing things that we wouldn't have thought of doing 50 years ago. As technology continues to come up with new inventions and giving us the ability to do more and more things, human lives have become more and more busy. Busyness also has its side effects on the mental health such as stress and fatigue.
One of the things that we are constantly watching is the time. Constraints on time and balancing out our busy lives is one of the things that causes us stress. One of the traditional Buddhist practices is to use the singing bowl along with the wood fish while chanting during meditation. The singing bowl acts as a therapeutic instrument, emitting sounds that can help the body relax. We decided incorporate this component along with the wrist watch, something that is very functional but it is also something that we often look at when we are stressed out. There will be a miniature singing bowl that is built on top of the watch. When the user looks into the singing bowl, they are still able to see the time clearly. A small stick attached to the bowl will hit the bowl at every hour and it can also act as an alarm that is programmed into the watch. The singing bowl wrist watch is made for busy people who have to go through their daily hectic schedule but the singing bowl can act as a small reminder that they still take a chance to relax.

Japanese Device Artist: Maywa Denki

After doing research and looking at all the different Japanese device artists, we have noticed a trend within Japanese device art. Process - After much exploration, our product ideas were synthesized from a number of sources. We looked at many aspects of Japanese traditional culture, device art, religion, and invention. A strong theme though all these things (in Japan specifiacally), was the fact that it did not matter what was created, as long as it was creative and entertaining. This is probably derived from the Shinto belief that nothing is without value, no matter how useless. Also, Shinto is very open to the idea of adopting all kinds of religious practice and belief into its own practice. In this way, Shinto is similar to post-modernism in that all ideas are seen as equally valuable or invaluable. Major inspiration in this theme was derived from a type of Japanese device art that is best described as "useless invention". These devices are needlessly complicated inventions, based on what seem like good ideas. Examples include toilet paper dispensers that are worn on the head, and noodle cooling fans that hang from chopsticks. These bizarre inventions also seem to reflect the Zen Buddhist tradition of the Koan, a type of poetry or riddle that is inherently paradoxical and or nonsensical. The purpose of these is to encourage a state of clarity and presence in the mind. The art of Sachiko Kodama seems to also be reflective of this tradition. The pulsating flow of the ferrofluid in her sculpture has a hypnotic and soothing effect, providing a point of focus for the mind.



At this point in our research, we started to recongnize that we could connect some of the ideas of nonsense inventions and Buddhist tradition. We were all fairly familiar with ritual practices of Buddhism and recognized the potential of some of the practices. The muyu (temple block) and suzu bowl (himalayan singing bowl) reminded us of the Knock Man Family toys made by Maywa Denki. However, recognizing that these were instruments connected to sacred practices, we did not want to treat them carelessly. The idea at this point, then, was to somehow connect these meditative devices to everyday life, in a way that also reflected the idea of the nonsense invention. We then tried to randomly connect everyday objects and activities with Buddhist symbolism and practice. The first connection made was enlightenment and light. The major symbol of enlightenment in Buddhism is the Lotus flower. Also, the word Buddha (or Bosatsu) translates to "one who seeks enlightenment". From this it seemed natural to attempt create a moment of enlightenment for the user. A light bulb within a lotus, containing a Buddha, opens as it turns on, giving the user a moment of reflection and meditative focus. All this simply by turning on the light. The next connection made was between the Muyu temple block and a cell phone ringing. Cell phone rings are annoying and distracting, whereas Muyu blocks have a clear and attention focusing sound. Cell phones remove our focus and distract us from our activities. The idea was to somehow make a cell phone ring into a clarifying and attention focusing sound. At the same time, we wanted the device to have character and nonsensical beauty, like Koan and nonsense invention. The idea, then, was to simply meld the Muyu block with a cell phone, making it more into a piece of art and meditative focus, rather than a useful phone. The final connection made was between wrist watch and clock alarms, and the Himalayan singing bowl. Similar to a cell phone ring, a watch alarm is distracting and annoying, removing focus from life. The singing bowl sound is clear and pure, meant for the user to meditate with by singing OM in harmony with the sound of the bowl. Our idea was to make an alarm into a meditative moment, rather than an alarming and annoying distraction. Again, we used the nonsense inventions as a source of inspiration. We simply miniaturized the meditation bowl and attached it to a watch. The result was an attractive little watch. The sound made by the alarm would not be annoying but should instead remind the wearer of OM and meditative practice. Our results in the end were a synthesis of device art, nonsense invention, Koan, Buddhist tradition, and Shinto/Post-modernist pastiche. Our hope was to design a collection of devices to encourage focus and presence in everyday life. We tried, in our designs, to give life and beauty to everyday things that are otherwise considered mundane or even annoying.

References

Singing Bowl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_bowl

Buddhism
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/buddhism.shtml

Wooden Fish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wooden_fish

Maywa Denki
http://www.maywadenki.com/

Machiko Kusahara
http://www.f.waseda.jp/kusahara/aboutme.html

Sachiko Kodama
http://www.kodama.hc.uec.ac.jp/index-e.html

Toshio Iwai
http://itp.nyu.edu/~an725/AYA/itp/videoart/presentation/index.html

Core77
http://www.core77.com/reactor/07.07_deviceart.asp

Nuffy.net
http://www.nuffy.net/cool/articles/totally-crazy-japanese-inventions.html